In the Days Before the End
by Elivira
Summary: It was a last stand, the desperate try of a broken people as we watched our leader dissolve in a flurry of golden particles. This world, our world, is ending, but with the new year will come a new beginning, a change in the war and hopefully a change in time. AU Time Travel
1. My Bloody Mistake

**Title:** In The Days Before The End

**Summary:** It was a last stand, the desperate try of a broken people as we watched our leader dissolve in a flurry of golden particles. This world, our world, is ending, but with the new year will come a new beginning, a change in the war and hopefully a change in time.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything you recognize!

**Author's Note:** I had this idea after depleting the Scrubs fanfiction archive. I love time travel and have wanted to write my own fic for a while. I know I should be working on my Start Trek 2009 series but after reading 'My Trigger' (really good and you should totally read it) my muse threatened to plan a mutiny unless I got this down on paper. So far I have the first couple chapters written and will try to post every Sunday (Japan Standard Time).

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In The Days Before The End

_Chapter One –My Bloody Mistake_

_The word ended. No brimstone or fire, no, it was the kind of end that lurked in the shadows, biding its time before striking when you are unaware. The darkness came and the war for our freedom began. The most unassuming man become our leader and we rose up to fight. We lost the war before we even started._

_No one knows where the enemy came from; another planet, another galaxy, another universe. From the start we were outnumbered and outgunned, and the government gave up. Submitted to our attackers and told the world that they had to as well._

_He rose up to head the rebellion and we followed without question. Almost nineteen years of war and we have lost so much more than we have won. It was a last stand, a desperate try as we watched our leader dissolve in a flurry of golden particles._

_Now all we can do is hope, something we haven't dared do in a long time, that this war will not happen again. I hear bombs, laser fire and screaming. They've found the bunker, but they will never find him. John Michael Dorian is long gone and none of us will ever tell where to. The cyanide tablets in our pockets and guns on our belts will make sure we don't go down without a fight. John, for he had long stopped being JD; the klutzy intern we knew and loved, will succeed. We have to believe, because everything will change. This world, our world, is ending and there is nothing we can do about it. With the new year will come a new beginning, a change in the war and hopefully a change in time._

- 2025 31st December 23:5, From The Journal of Carla Espinosa-Turk

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"JD! JD! Wake up!" The voice was loud and a hand shook my shoulder.

I woke abruptly, jumping out of my bed and in one swift move, automatic from almost two decades of practice, the heel of my hand smashed into my attackers face, a cracking noise signaled a broken nose. I swept their feet from under them and pinned them to the ground, knee on the back of their neck and their arms wrenched backwards, just a little more pressure and they would have popped out of their sockets.

I reached for the gun that was always attached to my hip, even in sleep. Years of both psychological and physical conditioning had taught me to shoot first and ask questions later. My hand grasped empty air. I panted hard, why was I so out of shape? I shouldn't even have been winded. Where was my gun? Someone screamed as the light switched on. It was bright, much brighter than it should have been. I hadn't seen a light this bright since, - memories of tearful goodbyes came back slowly - since before the war.

Before the war. Hell, it had worked.

The figure under me groaned and I looked to the direction that I remembered the door to be and like a ghost from the past stood Carla Espinosa (not yet Turk). She was missing the peppering of gray hairs and the hardened look and I bet she was missing the scar on her thigh, but it was her.

I tried to slow my breathing. My heartbeat was fast and furious, both from adrenaline and physical exertion that my younger self was unused to. I looked down at the man, for it was definitely a man, under me already knowing who I would see. Turk.

"Bambi?" Carla's voice was hesitant and she looked startled. I couldn't really blame her. Christ I hadn't been called Bambi over a decade.

"Dude, gef off be!" Turk's voice was muffled by both the carpet and his broken nose.

"Sorry!" I jumped up. Usually it would have served him right for surprising me and then not blocking fast enough, but this Turk probably didn't even know what end of the gun the bullet came out of, let alone that waking me up was something best done in a non-tactile way.

As soon as I was off him Carla rushed forwards, grabbing a box of tissues from my dresser as she swept past. She knelt at Turk's side. He was sitting up, one hand probing his nose to search for the break and the other trying to catch the abundant amount of blood dripping down his face.

"JD, whab the heck was thab?!" The look in Turk's eyes clearly said that he thought I had finally gone off the deep end.

"Uh..." I had no idea what to say.

_"Hey! I'm JD from the future here to stop an alien invasion. I'm sorry that I fractured your nose and almost dislocated both of your shoulders. They're going to be really sore tomorrow by the way. After three years of fighting I enacted a shoot first ask questions later policy. Yeah, 'cause I'm the leader of a nation wide group of rebels against our alien overlords!"_ That would go over _real_ well. If I was lucky they might even let me use a fork in my white room!

"Bambi, you were having some kind of nightmare, screaming your head off, I sent Turk to wake you up and the next thing I hear is him yelp." She ignored Turk's glare.

"Dude, that mus hab been some nightbare!" Turk exclaimed. "I thon't yelp." He muttered under his breath and I barely stifled and chuckle.

"Yeah, nightmare..." I agreed unenthusiastically, more like memory. "Here let me look at your face." I tried to keep the order out of my voice, but old habits die hard and it came out sounding more like an order and less like the suggestion that I had meant it to be.

I leaned forward and pressed on the side of my friend's nose, searching for the break. It was a clean fracture that would heal in weeks, nothing to worry about.

"Ouch! What the hell, JD! Are you trying to break it again?!" I was reminded that the man in front of me was not the Turk that I was used to. The Turk that I was familiar with would have stuffed the tissues up his nose and gone on with his day. This Turk though, the one sitting in front of me, was a civilian and he whined about having to go to the hospital on his day off. Days off? I hadn't had a day (or night for that matter) off in god knows how long.

"It's a Type One nasal fracture, Turk nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to worry about?! Are you kidding me? Dude you broke my nose! Where the heck did you learn to do that?" Turk didn't look angry, just surprised and confused. I didn't blame him.

"Movie." I said, knowing how lame it sounded even as it came out. Turk seemed to fall for it but Carla looked suspicious.

"Come on baby, let's go to the hospital." She said to Turk and turned to me. "Bambi, get dressed you're coming with us, your shift starts in an hour." She turned and walked out the door. Turk, who followed behind her, looked back once before disappearing as well.

I walked over to shut the door, stripped down to my underwear and looked at myself in the mirror. It was like looking at a picture. Gone was the sprinkling of gray in my hair, not that I was complaining, I lacked crow's feet and stress lines around my eyes, the three inch scar that had graced my upper lip was gone and I was clean shaven. The scrawny kid that looked out at me didn't look like he would last a minute in the war I knew was coming. Yet somehow he would, against all odds, become a leader of men. Though young and new the boy in the mirror was me, there was no doubt about it.

I looked around the room. There was no smoke in the air and it smelled clean, no smells of sweaty bodies or blood, it was my room… If I could only remember where I kept my clothes.

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**Author's Note:** I hope it wasn't too confusing... I know JD is out of character. He is supposed to be. After almost twenty years of war he wouldn't be the same. Of course he is still JD and how he become how he is will be explained. Please don't flame! If you have questions feel free to ask. Please review! Reviews inspire me so much!

THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT! I HAD TO CHANGE THE YEARS AROUND SO THAT I COULD FIT IN THE TIME TRAVEL. INSTEAD OF HAVING JD BEING AN INTERN IN 2001 HE IS IN 2006. HE IS TWENTY SIX IN 2006 AND ABOUT FOURTY FIVE WHEN HE GETS SENT TO THE PAST. THE WAR BEGINS JANUARY FRIST 2007 AND HE ARIVES IN THE PAST ON JANUARY FRIST 2006. ALL THE EVENTS OF THE SERIES AFTER EPISODE TEN DON'T EXIST YET BECAUSE IN JD'S TIMLINE THE WAR STARTED AND NOW THAT HE IS IN THE PAST THE TIMELINE CHANGES AROUND HIM. BUTTERFLY EFFECT EVERYONE.


	2. My 'First' Tracheotomy

**Title:** In The Days Before The End

**Summary:** It was a last stand, the desperate try of a broken people as we watched our leader dissolve in a flurry of golden particles. This world, our world, is ending, but with the new year will come a new beginning, a change in the war and hopefully a change in time.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything you recognize!

**Author's Note:** Here it is! Thanks for the people who read, reviewed and or followed! I don't know the layout of the hospital or the room numbers of the cardio ward, so I'm sorry if anything is wrong. If it is please tell me!

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In The Days Before The End

_Chapter Two –My 'First' Tracheotomy_

_When John Michael Dorian rose to the front of the rebellion I don't think that anyone was more surprised than me. The annoying, talkative, and clumsy intern that had started out at Sacred Heart Hospital was not the kind of person that I had thought could, or would, almost singlehandedly start a rebellion, let alone lead it._

_He was the newbie that zoned out at random times, smiled stupidly and didn't know when to shut his mouth. He was not, until he was, the man that inspired hope, belief and a will to live in the hearts of broken people. There was something about him, the first time I met him, which instantly pissed me off. The young intern that couldn't even put in an IV, fresh out of med school and feeling top of the world._

_I saw him; just two years after the war began, run a battle field triage center, barking out orders, digging out bullets and setting broken bones. Seeing him in the center of it all, splattered with blood and a clear look of determination etched onto his face, I finally saw what made people follow him. It wasn't it wasn't the fancy speech he had given on national television, no, it was his unwavering belief that this was not the end, that we _could_ fight and we _could_ win._

_Some say that war brings out the worst in people and I'm inclined to agree but I also believe that in brings out the best as well._

- December 25, 2025, From the Journal of Percival Cox

* * *

The car ride to the hospital was mostly silent. Carla drove and Turk, who's nose had stopped bleeding and was pressing a cold pack to his face, sat shotgun, leaving me alone in the back.

I looked out the window and amazed myself at how much the world had changed. Buildings were whole and standing, there were no shacks made of scrap metal along the reads and children played in the local park. There was no smoke rising from ruined homes and birds sang. It was so different that what it could become that I was stunned unto silence.

The silence continued as Carla drove into the parking lot, parked, and unbuckled her seatbelt. The hospital was just as I remembered it. It had been destroyed during the second year of the war and was never rebuilt. Almost three years from now.

"JD, you coming?" Turk's voice brought me back to the present.

"Oh, yeah." I opened the door and stepped out of the car, running to catch up with them.

"Man, Turk, I'm really sorry!" And I was, this Turk was so different than the one I was used to, the one I sparred with, that it felt like I had kicked a puppy.

"Its fine VB, I'm sorry I surprised you." VB, now that was something I was familiar with.

The inside of the hospital was, like the outside, just as I remembered it. Bright and clean; it was too calm, to clean. The medical tent at the base where I stayed most of the time was dark and someone was always screaming. The floor, that used to be white, was usually speckled with blood and dirt. The only clean place was the OR, that Turk ran. This place was missing the smell of death and the sound of a helicopter bringing in the wounded.

I followed Turk and Carla into an unoccupied examination room where Carla sat him down on the table and rooted around in a drawer, pulling out a piece of gauze and a roll of medical tape.

"Well, Bambi, you going to help or not?" Carla snipped off a piece of the tape, not even looking at me as she spoke.

"Oh, yes!" I grabbed the supplies from her.

"JD?" I looked toward the door, I knew that voice. "Thank god I found you! You left you pager in the on call room last night. Our shift doesn't starts for another half hour though, so you should be safe. You're lucky that Dr. Cox didn't see you without it!" She looked at Turk. "Whoa! What happened to your face?"

Turk looked sheepish. "Uh, JD went all ninja on my nose when I tried to wake him up this morning."

Elliot's eyes widened and she looked skeptical. "JD?" She laughed and turned towards me.

Elliot. Elliot. My heart skipped a beat and I paled. I remember the feeling of warm blood bubbling around my fingers as-. No! I wouldn't think about it. Not now.

Elliot had been one of the first casualties of the fifth year. She was shot in the small of her back, the kind of bullet that leaves an eight centimeter across exit wound. There was nothing we could have done. I had been young and inexperienced and no matter how hard I tried to stop the bleeding... She had died in minutes.

"JD? You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost. Dude it's just Elliot." Just Elliot? Turk had no idea. Elliot set my pager on the counter and stepped closer.

"Bambi, are you ok? You've been acting strange all da-." I cut her off.

"I have to go." My voice came out harsher than I had meant it to.

Grabbing the pager from where it sat on the counter. I couldn't look her in the eyes without remembering that I had failed to save her. It was like an old scar had been savagely ripped open. Almost fifteen years old.

I turned down the hallway that I remembered the on call room to be in. Flinging open the door, I sat heavily on a bed, head in my hands. I don't know why I hadn't occurred to me that she would be here. Of course she would. I could do this, that's why I was here. I would stop the war before it even started. I tried to control my breathing. I could do this. I didn't know how just yet, but I would come up with something. Until then, I would play the part of my twenty six year old self.

"Carol?" I knew that voice, as if the girls name wasn't a total give away.

"P-Dr. Cox!" I was still the annoying intern; he would probably give me double shifts for weeks if I called him Perry.

"stop crying like a teenage girl and get to work!" Dr. Cox commanded, glaring. He was sitting on the bed across from me and I could barely make out his face in the dark.

"My shift doesn't start for…" I looked at my watch and my eyes widened. Had it really been that long? "Right now!" At the same time I finished my pager beeped, as if on cue. 911 in room 203, that was in the cardio ward. I sprung up and out the door at a run, barely aware of Dr. Cox following me close behind.

I burst into the patient room.

"Report!" I barked the order and one of the two nurses jumped slightly.

"Sixty five year old male. Here overnight for observation after having a stroke-like episode. He was given Heparin intravenously and I was drawing blood for a test when he seized and collapsed."

"What's happening?!" A woman, who was probably the  
patient's wife, tried to hold on to the man as a tired nurse performed CPR.

"Ma'am, please move away!" The nurse panted.

"No! What is wrong with my husband! The woman was hysterical.

"Someone get her out!" I commanded at I turned to the other nurse. "Where is the crash cart?!"

"Here!" Carla and Elliot burst into the room pushing the cart.

I felt for a pulse and when I didn't find one I snatched the defibrillator paddles from Carla.

"Charge to 250!"

"Clear!"

"Push 0.5mg of epinephrine!"

"Charge to 350!"

"Clear."

My commands were calm and to the point. No one questioned me. I placed a finger under the man's nose. He wasn't breathing. Someone shoved an intubation tray at me. I pried open his mouth and slipped in the tube. His throat was swollen and it wouldn't go in more than five inches. I didn't have time to fiddle around with it.

"Get me a smaller tube!" It still didn't work. "Damn it! Someone get me a tracheotomy kit!"

A nurse shoved it onto the table and as soon as it was open I grabbed the scalpel, counting with my fingers.

It was so familiar; the slice of the blade, inserting the tube, things I had been going for decades. I could do it with my eyes closed. This is where I belonged. As much as I was a soldier and a leader I was a doctor as well and this man didn't have to die.

I relaxed as I heard a hiss of air and his chest rise and fall. I let out a sigh of relief as he stabilized.

"Take him off the Heparin and run an allergy work up before you give him anything else." I took a deep breath, I loved this; saving a life.

"Dr. Dorian!" Dr. Cox's voice broke through my thoughts. "Get over here." He pointed for the hallway.

I followed him out. "Yes?"

"What was that?" He pointed to the patient room.

"Uh, running a code?"

"No! Newbie that was n_ot_ what I saw." He waved his arm in emphasis. "You jumped right to giving that man a slit in his neck before consulting me, and then you went and did it without iodine!"

"Dr. Cox, there was no ti-." He cut me off.

"Zip! No! I don't want to hear anything from you. Next time you get it into your pea sized brain to be a hero I'll put you on discharge duty for three weeks. As it is you have double shifts for two weeks! Now get in there and clean that man up, he had better be drowning in iodine when I check up on you. If he gets an infection it'll be both our jobs on the line!" He whipped around and I stared as he stalked down the hall.

He was right; I should have sanitized the indecision site before cutting. This was a hospital, not a battlefield triage tent. I was unused to having the luxury of dumping iodine on a simple tracheotomy. Supplies had been in short supply for years.

As I stared at Percival Cox's retreating form I wondered how this man was the same one I knew in the future. Oh how the war does change people.

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**Author's Note:** Okay, so I know that it's been more than a week, but from now on I should be updating every week at around this time.

Next chapter we should learn more about the war in the future and who the enemy really is. I made a plan for this fic and it should be no more than twenty chapters but probably more than fifteen.

THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT! I HAD TO CHANGE THE YEARS AROUND SO THAT I CAN FIT IN THE TIME TRAVEL. IN STEAD OF HAVING JD BEING AN INTERN IN 2001 HE IS IN 2006. HE IS TWENTY SIX IN 2006 AND ABOUT FOURTY FIVE WHEN HE GETS SENT TO THE PAST. THE WAR BEGINS JANUARY FRIST 2007 AND HE ARIVES IN THE PAST ON JANUARY FRIST 2006. ALL THE EVENTS OF THE SERIES AFTER EPISODE TEN DON'T EXIST YET BECAUSE IN JD'S TIMLINE THE WAR STARTED.


	3. My Nonexistent Plan to Save the World

**Title:** In The Days Before The End

**Summary:** It was a last stand, the desperate try of a broken people as we watched our leader dissolve in a flurry of golden particles. This world, our world, is ending, but with the new year will come a new beginning, a change in the war and hopefully a change in time.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything you recognize!

**Author's Note:** Hey! It's me again! First off I would like to apologize for the horrid amount of typos in the last chapter… I was typing on my IPad and it sucks. Without further rambling here it is! Oh, there is an important note at the bottom, please read!

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In The Days Before The End

_Chapter 3: My Nonexistent Plan to Save the World_

_When I had woken this morning to screaming had been startled but brushed it off as JD having a bad dream. Finding Turk pinned to the floor, bleeding, was not what I had expected. There was this look in JD_'s_ eyes; cold, calculating, unfaltering, and for a moment I had wondered if it was, in fact, JD. There was an echo of an older man, one who had seen far too much. I had screamed. He had reached for something at his belt and the look of surprise on his face was genuine when his had closed empty air. I couldn't help but think that he reached to the same place that someone would keep a gun. When I looked again the look was gone and it was just JD. _

_I was quiet all the way to the hospital._

_When Elliot and I rushed in with the defibrillator, I, and I'm sure Elliot as well, was surprised to see that JD was running the code with Dr Cox standing off to one side with a look of surprise on his face. It was amazing to watch him work. Bambi ordered the room around with a practiced ease that comes from years of experience. He barely even thought before calculating the amount of epinephrine. There was no hesitation when he tried to intubate, fail, and perform an emergency tracheotomy. He didn't even flinch as he slit the patient's neck. He finished in half the time I had seen it take Dr. Cox. He was calm as he checked for a pulse and breath sounds and he didn't even glance at the monitor. JD diagnosed and gave treatment orders without even blinking and I was struck with the thought, for a moment, that this… Man, was not JD. That echo of an older man was back and the look in his eyes reminded me of a veteran who had just come back from long years at war._

- From The Journal of Carla Espinoza, January 1st, 2006

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When I returned to the room, everyone quieted and stared. Right. I was the intern who just ran a code and performed an emergency tracheotomy unassisted.

"Hi?" I would try to play the part of the clueless intern.

"JD! That was amazing!" How did you do that? I mean I would have freaked out. I've never done an emergency trache with help, let alone by myself!" Elliot paused for a breath and I cut in.

"Well you know how it is, you just start and everything else just kinda disappears." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. It was true, when I was saving a life the rest of the world just seemed to fade away.

"What did Dr. Cox want?" Carla spoke up before Elliot could start again and I tried to put on my most sheepish face.

"I forgot to use iodine… He told me to come back and make sure the patient doesn't get an infection." I opened a cabinet to search for the iodine. "Where was it again?" I muttered softly but Carla heard me anyway.

"Top self," she looked at me strangely, "where we always keep it."

"Oh yeah! Silly me!" I tried to salvage the situation. "Must have has too much to drink last night." The excuse was weak but it had been New Years Eve.

"JD? What was up with you when I tried to give you your pager? You looked really sick!" Elliot spoke up looking mildly offended. I searched my mind frantically for something to say.

"I must have eaten something bad last night." I left it at that, they probably wouldn't as anything else about my bowel movements.

"That's good! No! Not good that you got sick. Just I thought it was something about me, like I had something really gross on my face or something." She took a breath and frowned. "I don't, do I?" She looked genuinely worried.

"No, Elliot, there is nothing on your face." Carla looked exasperated at she turned to me. "You okay now?"

"Yep! Just fine, you know how you usually feel better after you v- " Elliot cut me off.

"Stop right there! We don't want to know!" She shuddered. "I get enough from patients."

I was right, they didn't want to know. I laughed at the absurdity of worrying about vomit, in the future there were much worse things. Carla looked at me funny and I stifled another chuckle. Grabbing some antiseptic and walking to the inert patient I murmured a quick goodbye to Elliot as her pager beeped and she rushed out of the room in a tangle of long legs and curses.

つぎ つぎ つぎ

The rest of the day was quiet and passed quickly and without incident, as I fell back into a familiar routine that I hadn't followed in years. It was strange and terrifying to see so many people who had died and it only strengthened my resolve to change the future. I could stop it. I would always have the memories of a cruel future but in the end it was worth it, they were worth it.

I stared, unblinking, at the computer screen. Had it really begun this early? This is how it had all started. Disappearances and people coming back totally different, I strolled down the list. This many in just the United States I knew that the war should start about a year from now but looking at the names of missing persons, I had to face the cold hard truth. We were being invaded my aliens.

Even for someone who been there and seen it all, it was pretty hard to believe. It was laughable really, I knew the future, but I had never been involved this early on. I had never seen this part of the war, the silent cold war between the unknowing people and our extraterrestrial invaders, by the time I had gotten involved, bodies were dropping like flies.

The government had given up and I had ended up starting a rebellion. If I hadn't, someone else probably would have, but I had and I lead them.

This part, I didn't know much about. I knew the basics; the enemy, who called themselves Pulr, started by abducting people and wiping them of their personality and memory. They used our own people against us and by the time I left two thirds of the population had been wiped. We called them Blanks and tried to forget that they had been our friends, they had forgotten us, but we would never forget them.

I printed a list as well as a world map, blown up and split into pieces and taped them to the wall with red masking tape. I grabbed a red permanent marker from my desk drawer and started marking the places of disappearances. So far they were centered near Seattle Washington. It wouldn't be long before it spread into Oregon and then California. I had to find their base. The Pulr were all controlled by a central being, almost like a beehive. If the central intelligence was destroyed, then the rest would be undirected and unable to function correctly. Well at least that was the idea. We hadn't actually proven it. Yet. That's why I was here.

I sat back down in front of the computer. Now to see how many of these people had been ' returned'. None, not yet. I would have to keep checking back. Sighing, I stood up and closed the page, no one needed to know that I had hacked into a government database.

"Hey! Turk! Do you want to order a pizza?" I yelled out the door at Turk who had taken up residence on the couch. I walked into the living room as he answered.

"Sure, sounds great!" He was, as I had expected, lying on the couch watching television, his nose bandaged, swollen and looking way worse that it was.

"I'll call, what do thin think Carla wants?"

"Don't worry about her; she's at her mom's…"

I had missed this, the normalcy of my life at age twenty six. I knew that I had changed so much the next (or is it past?) twenty years and wouldn't be able to keep up the façade forever. I would slip up. Mention something that hadn't happened and if they didn't find out another way, my friends weren't stupid. It would be the little things over time that would add up and someone would ask questions I couldn't answer.

Memories of the future are terrible things but for sake of the future, my friends and family, I would endure. I would kill for them, had killed for them, I would die for them and in the end I would fight for them.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Sorry, no look into the future in this chapter. I wanted to explore Carla's thoughts on JD.

When I decided on aliens for the enemy (which I did during this chapter) I was kind of hesitant, I wanted to do a virus but I have already seen I think three fics with a virus and I really wanted to do something original. I will try to stay away from the clichés but this is my first big multichapter fic, I'm still learning so please be gentle!

I apologize if anyone seems OOC/ to tell you the truth, I've only seen like fifteen episodes of Scrubs (and read the Wikipedia article). I will watch the rest but I'm in Japan for the next eight months and my host family says the streaming costs extra.

**Noz Just Dot: **Sorry… It won't be… I can't write multichapter romance to save my life… Sorry (and I don't really like slash). Thanks for the support though! Your reviews make me happy! Please don't stop reading!

Thanks to **Pyro-Misa** for the favorite, follow and review!

Comment if you have any questions (sometimes things are obvious to me but not to anyone else) and I love _constructive_ criticism.

Anyone want to beta for me?


	4. My Criminal Dealings

**Title: **In The Days Before The End

**Summary: **it was least stand, the desperate cry of a broken people as we watched our leader dissolve in a flurry of golden particles. This world, our world, is ending, but with the New Year will come a new beginning, a change in the war and hopefully a change in time.

**Disclaimer: **No own, no sue!

**Author's Note: **Here it is! My wonderful readers!

* * *

In The Days Before The End 

_Chapter Four – My Criminal Dealings_

_The war had been going for almost a year before JD rose to the head. He had helped lead, but not become the leader until then. We were losing, not that we had ever been winning, people were giving up, listening to the government that told us to surrender and we needed hope. None of us ever imagined that it would come in the form of the clumsy intern that we had come to know. _

_For weeks beforehand JD locked himself in a lab and only came out for necessity. When he emerged after weeks of working, though at what we had no idea, twenty four seven with an air about him that said something had changed. With a small smile and looking happy he shoved a stack of papers onto the table and called us over._

_It was a plan, a strategy that would take years to complete. It was genius, no one could deny it. He had a backup plan in case everything failed. Time travel; it was laughable but after aliens and mind control, it didn't seem too far out of the realm of possibility._

_A week later, after much convincing from his friends, JD appeared on national television._

"We have a plan and for the first time in a long while we have hope. We _can_ fight and we _can_ win. We are strong, do you want to roll over, and like the animal that they think we are, give up? The government is wrong, no surprise there. We should fight.

We have all lost people. I have lost people, but would they want us to stop fighting, their lives to be lost in vain? I'm just a normal man and I want this to end, we all do, but this is a war and we _have_ to fight. "

_He was nervous for days and practiced his little speech over and over but as soon as he stood on that podium it was no longer JD, there was a leader, a soldier._

- From the Journal of Carla Espinoza, June 7th 2010

* * *

_A flash of red. A body, unidentifiable. Charred and bloody. A scream. Gurgles as it's cut off. The building crumbles -._

I woke up gasping for air and reaching for the knife that I had hidden under my pillow. Just a dream. Just a dream. Taking deep breaths I glanced at the clock; 4:00. I had two hours until I have to be at my shift. I didn't want to go back to sleep, not that I would be able to anyway. It was still dark and my room was gray and shadowy.

Pulling myself from bed, I flipped on the light as I sat my desk with a pen and pad of paper. Starting at the top I wrote.

_Needed/To Do_

- _Weapons_

- _Ammo_

- _Plan_

- _Sleeping pills_

It was a start. I could get the pills from the hospital and I knew exactly where I could get any weapons I might need.

Mathew Stevenson had become a good ally, he didn't know it yet but he would be one of the biggest suppliers for weapons and ammo for those of us fighting against the Pulr. As of now, 2006, he controlled a small illegal weapons dealership out of a warehouse on the south side of town. Officially it sold old car parts and was run by a man by the name of John Smith. Very cliché.

I could get weapons there and not worry about having to buy one at a store. This was off the books, just what I needed.

If needed Stevenson could be very helpful in the future. Standing, I pushed my chair back and grabbed some clothes. I found an elastic strap and attached a knife to my thigh. I would buy a holster while there.

* * *

I stopped at the first convenience store I saw and pulled a considerable sum of money from the ATM, it would make a significant dent in my savings but I needed it. Money would do nothing for me if I was dead. With cash in my pocket I set out.

The building was just as I remember it from the first time I had been there. Tall and wide with a towering garage door with its siding chipped and rusty. I walked around to the back, dodging old cars and scrap metal as I found my way to where I knew the back entrance to be, hidden behind a scraggly and half dead pine tree. I knocked and seconds later the view window on the door opened and a man spoke roughly. Stevenson had always liked clichés.

"Who is it?"

"I need to speak with Mathew Stevenson." I kept my voice hard and steady.

"Why?" The man was clearly suspicious as he closed the window and I heard a lock unlatch.

"I have a business proposition."

"You armed?" He asked as the door opened slightly.

"No." I lied.

He looked at me skeptically and I didn't blame him. The door opened fully and I was lead into a large room. Stacks of rusty car parts were shoved on to any available shelf space and the overhead florescent lights buzzed noisily.

"Arms up." The man commanded gruffly and I lifted them as he patted me down.

Maybe he wouldn't find the knife? Yeah right. Sure enough when he came to my thigh he paused and pushed up my pant leg. Removing the small knife he looked at me and raised an eyebrow in question. I shrugged my shoulders and grinned, he chuckled softly.

"Well man, if you're the police you must have a hell of a backup and if not you are either genius or stupid." The look he gave me as he pulled a walkie talkie from his belt clearly said that he thought it was the latter of the latter. He spoke into the device. "Hey, I've got a kid here that wants to speak to the boss."

Kid? I was probably at least ten years older than him! Sometimes time travel made my head hurt.

"Name?" He asked me.

"John Dorian." I chose to use my real name; they would probably look my up before letting me in. The man repeated it and nodded slightly before remembering that they couldn't see him and speaking an affirmation.

"Come on, the boss'll see you." He led me to a side door on the left side of the room and into a hall that would have been used for offices if the warehouse had not been used by black market arms dealers. We walked to one of the doors and he knocked once before opening it and leading me into the office.

It was cluttered and desperately needed to be dusted. There was a large desk in the center and on either side stood the two men that I recognized as Stevenson's body guards. Rick and Dix, I didn't think that those were their real names but that's what he called them. Stevenson sat behind the desk looking tired.

"What can we do for you?" Stevenson spoke up and I was glad that he wasn't in the mood for pleasantries.

"I need weapons." I kept my voice calm and serious.

He scratched his chin that had about two days worth of stubble. "We can do that, for the right price." I smiled, of course. "But what would a surgical inter at the start of a promising career want with illegal weapons?"

"Does it matter?" Damn it! He _had _looked me up.

He made a motion with his hand and Rick and Dix stepped forward. Before they could reach for their guns I swept Dix's legs out from under him and grabbed his gun at he went down. He was quick though and a fist glanced off my jaw as he hit the ground, his head cracking hard against the concrete. The doctor in me felt bad. Rick reached for his gun and I kicked his hand away, diving in and grabbing the gun as he cursed.

With his own gun pointed at him and Dix's gun pointed at Stevenson I looked at the man who had brought me in.

"Over there," I motioned with a gun toward Rick, "stand beside him." The man looked stunned and moved slowly. "And give me my knife back. Put it on the floor and kick it to me, nice and slow."

I smiled at Stevenson.

"Let's all settle down. No need for violence." He spoke and I raised an eyebrow. "What can I do for you?"

I need a Glock 22, A Beretta 92FS, an APR308 Sniper Rifle and holsters for the handguns and this." I held up my knife. "As well as a couple of daggers."

"Ya got money for that kid?" I couldn't help but think that he had actually been born a year after me.

"Yes." I bent down and laid one of the guns on the floor before reaching for the bills I had stuffed in my pocket. "Right here."

"Wonderful." He turned to the man who had answered the door. "Allen, be a dear and go set up Mr. Dorian with his purchases."

* * *

I left the building with the familiar weight of a handgun on my hip, hidden beneath my jacket, and the pressure of a knife holster on my thigh. The knife I could take to work, my scrubs were baggy enough, but the gun would have to stay out of sight. I didn't like it but I didn't have a concealed weapons permit and would rather not get arrested just because I was paranoid. I glanced at my watch, half an hour before work. I rubbed my jaw, man I was out of shape.

I stopped at the apartment long enough to stuff the sniper rifle under the bed, wrapped in a sheet, and get a bag to hide the handgun in.

Reaching the hospital, I made it just in time for my twenty four hour shift, damn it! Make that forty eight. Sometimes I hated Dr. Cox.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Yay! Finished! Please review!

Anyone want to beta read?


	5. My Extremly Boring Day

**Title: **In The Days Before The End

**Summary: **it was least stand, the desperate cry of a broken people as we watched our leader dissolve in a flurry of golden particles. This world, our world, is ending, but with the New Year will come a new beginning, a change in the war and hopefully a change in time.

**Disclaimer: **No own, no sue!

**Author's Note: **Authors Note: Yay another one! So yesterday I read through the already posted chapter, corrected my mistakes and filled in plot holes. I also made the first couple chapters in a bit different. When I first started writing I didn't really know where I was going with it and by the time I did those chapters were already posted. I changed some things to make the plot fit better, you don't have to but if you want to, you should go back and read them. I'll take this note down when I post the next chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

In The Days Before The End

_Chapter Five – My Extremely Boring Day_

_It was strange, I had known JD for ages but the man standing in front of me was a stranger. The wild look in his eyes as he removed the empty cartridge in his gun and replaced it with a full one, his hands moving quick and efficiently, made me wonder what had happened to him in the months since I had seen him. _

_We crouched behind a wall, or what used to be one; now reduced to crumbling boulders, as bullets raced past us to embed themselves in the smoking ruins. This was not the part of the war I fought, this was JD's war, I fought the sickness and bullets wounds. I didn't give them. Crouching in the ruins of sacred heart hospital I wanted nothing more than to lie down and give up. _

_JD shouted something about covering him as he jumped up, gun in each hand and shot a woman, blank I reminded myself, before shooting at more people farther away. The woman collapsed and fell with a thump, cracking her head against a jagged chunk of metal. Suddenly the sounds of the firefight happening around me seemed louder, and I fumbles with the gun that JD had shoved in my hand barely an hour before._

_I covered him as he picked up the woman's gun, checked for a pulse and motioned me over. We ran and crouched low over the battlefield as we made our way to the meeting place._

_That was the first time I saw JD truly fight, it was also the first time I had seen him since his speech seven months before. He was different; the front lines of a no longer silent war had changed him while I had stayed in the hospital. I had seemed clips of him on the television, the media loved his story and everyone across the nation knew his face. The government and Pulr alike wanted his head on a stake._

_I called him JD and he looked at me strangely._

"Nobody calls me that anymore."

_I had to wonder if the broken man in from of me was still the one I had know for years._

- From the Journal of Christopher Turk, July 21st, 2008

* * *

I stared at the wall and the web of articles and profiles I had tacked to it; red marker connecting all of the information to the words Pulr Base in the middle. No, this was not right; two weeks and nothing, no disappearances, no reappearances, nothing.

The map with its little red and blue dots, red for disappearances and blue for reappearances, seemed to be mocking me. I fiddled with my handgun, unloading and loading it rhythmically. Before I could change my mind, my bed was extremely comfortable, I jumped up, whipped around and aimed at the doorknob. I stumbled slightly and when I remained my balance cursed. I was out of practice and missing muscle mass that I was used to having.

It was no wonder really. All I had been doing for the last few weeks was were my shifts at the hospital. Thanks to Dr. Cox I hadn't had any time to exercise. I guess I was lucky that nothing was happening. I would have to make time to obtain, preferably soon, a firearm permit. At the moment though, I needed to get to the hospital on time for my next monster shift.

* * *

Two weeks into the new year and though the New Year's Rush had become a trickle of old wounds and ailments, the hospital was still relatively busy

"JD!" Elliott's voice called from the doors as I walked the short distance from the parking lot to the hospital. I don't think that I would ever get over seeing it standing again.

"Hey!" I called over to her and ran to catch up. "Have a good day off?" Yesterday had been her day off and I hoped that she had rested; she had looked like one of the living dead two days ago.

"I slept most of the time but I feel much better. I swear, I was going to collapse in the middle of the night of an examination!" I laughed, not doubting it for a moment, she had been that tired.

"Not my fault that you didn't sleep for two days."

She glared."How's Turk's nose?" Ouch, that was a low blow. I felt pretty bad about breaking his nose and though after buying him a scone he had forgiven me, everyone thought it was fun to tease us.

"Shut up." I snapped without inflection as Elliott laughed. I glanced at the clock.

"I got to go, don't want another reason for Dr. Cox to hate me!"

Elliot grimaced. "He's been on your case lately, what did you ever do to him?" She looked perplexed as she tried to pull her hair from her mouth.

" I don't know. Period. Exist?" I laughed and waved goodbye.

It was true, Dr. Cox been extremely, for lack of better word, bitchy lately. I had no idea why... Well had a bit of one; ever since running that code he'd been after me, trying to find fault in my work. He couldn't and in my own silent rebellion I did everything he asked me to efficiently and effectively. I used techniques that I had learned from him but ones that he hadn't taught me yet. It drove him crazy and I wondered when I had gotten so sadistic.

Percival Cox, my Percival Cox, had been a great mentor and, later, friend. The first time around he had taught me almost everything I knew and though we had been separated for the beginning of the war, later we fought side-by-side.

* * *

"Sir, I can't give you a diagnosis if you don't tell me where it hurts, make and I can't prescribe you medication unless you give me your name." I spoke calmly and trying to keep the nite out of my voice.

"Dude, it hurts everywhere!" The patient groaned theatrically again. Did anyone actually fall for the shit?!

" Your name?" I asked and hoped that Elliot would show up before I strangled him.

"Peter Alton." It was obvious that he was lying, the way he didn't make eye contact and paused a little before speaking gave it away. "Can't you just give me some medicine and let me go?"

"JD?" As if answering my silent prayer Elliott spoke from the door. "You paged?"

"Yes, one sec." I turned the patient. "One moment, I have to consult with my colleague." I ignored his previous question and walked from the room.

"Hey Elliot, can you do me a favor? Take this guy and I'll take three of yours."

"Uhh... Sure why?"

"I think he's just trying to get drugs, I can't stand people like him." I must've looked really angry because she nodded and walked to the room.

"I'll call psych."

We had people like this during the war to; men and women who didn't want to be ruled but didn't want to fight either. They drifted between safe houses scrounging for drugs. I hated them, we barely had enough for the people who needed it let alone selfish bastards just wanted a high. It made me sick and I wasn't sure if I could have held myself back from killing him."

* * *

The rest of my shift was dull and boring and by the of the day I was chomping at the bit to do something, anything. Tomorrow I would look into getting a permit and practicing the local shooting range. For now though I would try to stay awake until the end of my shift.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Sorry, it's just a filler, I don't want to move too fast and I felt like it was. I also would like to do more development and future JD's character.

I might not post next week, as you may or may not know, I'm staying in Japan for year and next week/weekend is the school festival. I usually write on paper during the week and then type it during the weekend, and might not have time to type. If I don't then the next chapter will be longer.

**No Just Dot:** _"How cold you make him "sometimes hate" !?"_ Uhmmm, I didn't understand that at all. English please? XD I love your reviews, they make me laugh... Do you have an account? It would be easier if I could PM you.

A beta is someone who reads the chapters over before the authors post them. They check for mistakes, wrong spelling, plot holes etc.

**Pyro-Misa:** I lied in our PM, next chapter he will get the permit... Sorry!

**lovely-logic:** Your review made me so happy!


	6. My Web of Lies

**Title:** In The Days Before The End

**Summary:**

**Disclaimer:**

**Author's Note:** Sorry about last week, it had to be the smost tiring weeks of my life... On top of the eight day school week (Japanese schools are weird) they only gave us a day off before starting test prep for tests next week. The school festival was fun but I'm still getting over the aches and pains from the mud fight/water fight/bonfire/fireworks display on the last night.

This chapter was really hard for some reason. I only had two days to write it, coughEightDaysOfSchoolcough, but here it is!

Please enjoy!

* * *

In The Days Before The End

Chapter Six - My Web of Lies

_There was something different about him. Since the morning I had woken him up and he broke my nose I noticed the differences. JD's habits had disappeared and new ones had taken their place._

_JD had, for as long as I had known him, zoned out at random times. I hadn't seen it happen for a month and a half. Instead he jumped at loud noises and almost threw Dr. Cox when he snuck up behind him. I don't know who was more surprised JD or Dr. Cox. JDstopped fawning over Elliot and instead whenever she came into the room he looked like he wanted to bolt. I asked about it and he had quickly changed the subject._

_He was different, didn't smile, genuinely, as much and barely ever laughed anymore. He disappeared at random times and started looking locking the door to his room._

_JD was hiding something, something big, he hadn't changed so much that I couldn't tell. The little things made all the difference, and the only reason I noticed was that I'd known him for so long._

_There was something wrong and at the time I couldn't even begin to imagine how big it really was._

- From the Journal of Christopher Turk, April 20th, 2006

* * *

"Dude you've been really strange lately. What's up?" Turk's insistent voice pulled me from my thoughts as I chewed on my sandwich in the hospital cafeteria and I froze. Not good. I had thought I was doing pretty well.

I swallowed before speaking and tried my best to look confused. "How so?"

"I don't know, are you okay?" He looked concerned as he shifted his chair and I felt bad for misleading him.

"I'm fine, just tired, Dr. Cox has been running me ragged." I tried to laugh a little but it sounded more like a gag and he looked at me oddly.

"Carla said that he was livid when you ran that code without him last month."

That has definitely not been one of my best 'blending in' moments. I had benn fresh out of a war zone and had gone straight into autopilot when I saw the patient. Since then I'd been I'd been keeping my abilities on the down low. Seeing the look of surprise on Dr. Cox's face was sometimes hard to resist though.

"Yeah. He was mad. You should have seen his face when he chewed me out in the hallway afterwards," I smiled and Turk laughed before taking a bite of fruit from its small plastic container, "it was wonderful. I thought he might have an aneurysm right then and there!"

Turk snorted and coughed. "Stop making me laugh." He coughed again, "I'm going to snort fruit out my nose!" He hacked again and looked embarrassed as Carla pulled out a chair to sit beside him.

"Hey Bambi, I haven't seen you around the house lately. What have you been up to?" She sat down and placed her tray on the table. I opted for the truth.

"I've been going to the gym."

Turk almost spit out his drink as both him and Carla stared at me, eyes wide with disbelief. Was it really that surprising?

"Are you sure you're okay?" Turk asked smiling and Carla laughed.

As Elliot sat down on my right and Turk and Carla chatted amiably across from me I wondered how long these kinds of days would last. Is this the calm before the storm or the calm before the hurricane?

* * *

At home that night I pulled the guns that I had bought from Stevenson out from under the bed where they had sat unused for the past month, and laid them on my comforter. They hadn't been used yet but I planned on getting a permit and going to the shooting range as soon as possible and they need to be cleaned.

With practiced moves I disassembled them, the Glock and sniper first leaving the Beretta for last so that I would have at least one in working condition. It was a habit, I didn't think that my room would be invaded. A month and a half in the warless past was not enough to get rid of habits that I've had for years.

The guns were pretty clean to begin with but there was no need to take chances, the last thing I needed was to have one malfunction and lose my arm.

I had bought the supplies at a Bass Pro Shop about an hour from my apartment, and the familiar activity of cleaning a gun relaxed me. I lay on my stomach, elbows propping me up on the bed, gun parts spread out around me.

I was just slipping the bullets into the Glock when the door burst open. I acted on instinct; jumping up and getting into a defensive position, I grabbed the Beretta off the bed, not loaded, and rested my finger on the trigger of the Glock, loaded. As the person bursting the room I cocked them both, one in each hand. Whoever it was wouldn't know that only one was loaded.

" JD! Would you..." Turk trailed off and his eyes widened as they rested on the guns in my hands. Turk! damn it! This was not good.

"Wha!" He yelped and I lowered my hands, flipping on the safety. I sat on the bed, closing my eyes and taking deep breaths to calm my racing heart.

"Uhh, hi?" I look to him and tried to hide the rifle that that sat mostly disassembled on mattress behind me as he stared with wide eyes.

This was just great. Note the sarcasm. I probably had about ten seconds before he freaked. Right on time Turk opened his mouth, and spoke surprisingly calmly.

"JD, what is going on? Why do you have a gun." His voice rose a few few octaves at the second question.

"Uhh... What did you need?" I made a poor attempt to distract him.

"Don't bullshit me JD! What the heck is going on with you? First you break my nose and last week you almost killed Dr. Cox because he surprised you. Now you have guns in your room?" Turk's voice rose as he spoke and by the time he was finished he was practically yelling

I could lie, it would be relatively easy to tell him that I had taken up shooting as a new hobby. He didn't have to know yet, but I wanted him to. I was used to having Turk helping me. After Sacred Heart was destroyed he had moved on to the front lines of me. He still didn't fight, mostly performed field surgery, but he was still there. I missed that. I took a breath.

"I'm from the future." Wow. It was nice to tell someone. Very nice.

Turk's eyes widened and I could practically see his brain short-circuiting as he tried to process my words.

"You're from the future?" He looked extremely skeptical and I couldn't blame him.

I looked him in the eyes and spoke with all the sincerity I could muster.

"Yes."

"I don't believe you." He shifted awkwardly on his feet. "Prove it."

How exactly could you prove to someone that you are from the future?

"You're planning on asking Carla to marry you." Turk looked surprised but still unconvinced so I continued. "You said yourself that I'm different and I shouldn't have been able to break your nose and pin you to the ground," I looked pointedly at him, "even if you are civilian."

"And you're not?" Turk looked confused.

"No, Turk, I'm not." I tried to meet his eyes but he looked away.

"So say I believe you, I'm not saying I do, but why are you here?" I may have decided to tell him that didn't mean that I knew what I was going to say. Best start with the truth.

"To save the human race." I tried to keep a straight face but I couldn't and ended up bursting out laughing. Turk looked perplexed.

"No, really, I am." I managed to get out beforeI managed to get out before laughing again. It felt good. I haven't laughed in a long time. I didn't even know I was laughing. Maybe it was that the absurdity of my situation had finally caught up with me but as happy tears gathered in my eyes I didn't blame Turk for looking at me like he thought that I had gone off the deep end.

"Sorry." I took a brief deep breath." Sorry." I bit back a hysterical giggle. "It's not even funny!"

Turk moved to sit down beside me. "The future?"

"Yeah."

"Cool."

I was actually surprised that he believed me so easily.

"Sometimes I think so too."

"What's it like it?" He looked at me.

"Apocalyptic." I sighed. This was going to be a long night

* * *

**Author's Note:** Do you guys are like extremely lucky. I almost stopped at "I'm from the future." I decided not to but I was insanely tempted.

Sorry Turk again again and no look into the future but I wanted to have a journal entry from before he found out and this is my last chance.

The outdoor supply store called Bass Pro shop does does exist but I don't know if there is one in California. I've only been to one of the ones in Indiana. It's pretty awesome!

I feel like Turk is a little OOC! Sorry!

Thank you to lovely – logic for her really really wonderful review on last chapter. It made my day.

**PyroMisa:** Sorry... I lied again...


	7. My Explanation

**Title:** In The Days Before The End

**Summary: **It was least stand, the desperate cry of a broken people as we watched our leader dissolve in a flurry of golden particles. This world, our world, is ending, but with the New Year will come a new beginning, a change in the war and hopefully a change in time.

**Disclaimer: **No own, no sue!

**Author's Note: **Here it is! Kind of short, but I have a _very_ bad case of writers block. At least it's better than nothing and it's a bit early.

* * *

In The Days before The End

_Chapter Seven - My Explanations_

_I was engaged almost eight years into the war with my hands covering a hole in the torso of a sixty five year old woman._

"Carla Espinosa, will you marry me?"

_Turk spoke as he placed an IV and morphine drip, preparing to retrieve a bullet from the woman's torso._

_I said yes without having to think about it._

_I was married two weeks later in a rundown shack at the edge of enemy territory that served as a medical tent. We were field medics and followed the action like scavengers. The man who married us had been a captain in the military before he had joined us in fighting the Plur. We figured he had more credentials than the rest of us._

_And so It happened with the ex-military captain in a makeshift hospital bed recovering from a busted hip, with only JD as our witness and looking down at the man in the bed we said our vows and I stopped being Carla Espinosa and became Carla Espinosa-Turk. That was how it was on the front lines, rushed "I love you"s and tearful goodbyes. There was so much fear, so much uncertainty and we lasted a year before JD reassigned me to a hospital on the other side of the state._

"You can't work together, I made the rules for other families and it goes for you too."

_Families couldn't work together. The chances of a loved one being wiped and their family having to kill them was too high. It made sense and I didn't argue._

_While I worked in a backwater hospital in Southern California my husband and his best friend fought two separate battles on the front lines._

– From the Journal of Carla Espinosa, September 5, 2016

**Recap (because the last chapter was kinda-sorta a cliffhanger):**

_- "I'm from the future."_

_– "Prove it."_

_– Maybe it was that the absurdity of my situation had finally caught up with me but as happy tears gathered in my eyes I didn't blame Turk for looking at me like I had gone off the deep end._

_– "What's it like?"_

_"Apocalyptic."_

* * *

Turk look at me surprised. "What?"

"It's all gone to hell Turk and there was nothing I could do to stop it." I looked him in the eyes as I spoke. I took a deep breath. "It started twenty –" I broke off and started again. "The war will start in about a year but the rest has already begun, people have started disappearing and coming back totally different. You had to have seen the newspapers recently. They're being abducted by aliens Turk."

"Aliens?"

"Aliens." And I explained everything. That aliens had turned our friends against us and that we had fought a losing war for over fifteen years. I didn't tell him the specifics and some things I just wasn't ready to talk about. Elliot's death being one of many. When I was done speaking I looked up from where I had been studying the floor and studied him. He believed me.

"JD, man, I don't know what to think." He looked at the door like he wanted to escape.

"Turk, you don't have to know, but I need your help. I have to stop this. I can't let it happen again."

He looked at me strangely. "Uh, JD, how old _are_ you?" Well that was slightly random, but to was Turk so I didn't question him.

"Twenty six." I looked at him strangely.

"No, how old are you really?" Took ran hand over his face.

"Oh, um, forty five."

Turk look surprised and when he spoke all of the tension seem to leave him. "Dude, you're an old man!"

"No I'm not!" We both burst out laughing and it felt so good to let go, so extremely good.

Turk gasped for breath. "So, aliens, that's pretty big shit."

"Yeah, it is."

"You got a plan?"

"Yes. They work like a hive, if we take out the one charge the rest should be easy to take down. We just need to find the base where they all are."

"How are we going to do that?"

We. I could work with that.

* * *

"Yes I know that it will cost me... Yes, I understand... Yes, I'll be there." I hung up the phone with a little more force then was really necessary.

Stevenson was so frustrating that sometimes I wanted to just shoot him. I had called him for information on who could get me a CCW, carry concealed weapon, permit but he had been extremely stubborn. In the end he had refused to meet with me and told me what information he would need to make me one. He decided that I would meet one of his men in a week at a convenience store near my arartment. I would give him the money and he would give me the paper.

It wasn't what I had hoped, but it would work. I wasn't sure that I could bullshit my way through the psychological test needed to obtain one legally, and with my hours at the hospital on top of trying to find the Plur I really didn't have time to attend twenty four hours worth of classes at the community college. Having Stevenson help me was a whole lot more expensive but in the end it was worth it.

* * *

Clara Evans, the wife of one of the first people to reappear. If I could convince Turk to question her with me we might get some useful information. The computer screen in front of me had her name, her husbands (Paul), as well as her address. Turk and I worked the night shift at the hospital so we could go after we got off. I picked up my cell phone, and punched in Turk,s number.

"Hey I have a lead."

_"What?"_ Turk sounded tired.

"Tomorrow after work we are going to go question a woman about her husband's two week disappearance and complete 360 degree personality change when he returned."

_"Oh, a lead on_ that _I'll be there, what time?"_

"Meet me at the apartment at 8:00 AM we can head to her house together, it's about two hours away."

_"Okay."_

* * *

**Author's Note:** I would like to apologize about typos, I have a new app on my iPad that types what I say, but it makes pretty silly mistakes and since I still don't have a beta... Yeah sorry.

**No Just Dot:** Pft! PMS PM... LOL, No PM stands for private messaging so that I don't have to reply to you in my chapters. I urge you to get an account. It's so much easier, you can follow stories so that you don't have to remember to check in. But it's your choice.

Japan is wonderful! The cherry blossoms bloomed in March, there were a lot. Very beautiful.

**lovely-logic:** Thanks again for your wonderful review! I like getting feedback so that I can improve. Next chapter will definitely explore JD's relationship with Elliot and Dr. Cox. I've been meaning to do that but keep getting distracted. I think that I have been moving too fast so I'm going to try to slow down a bit. I'm glad that you think my writing is improving. Yeah, I had trouble with writing Turk's reaction. I hate how OOC it is...

Sorry another short chapter. Don't hate me! The next one should be longer.


	8. My Day Out

**Title:** In The Days Before The End

**Summary: **It was least stand, the desperate cry of a broken people as we watched our leader dissolve in a flurry of golden particles. This world, our world, is ending, but with the New Year will come a new beginning, a change in the war and hopefully a change in time.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything you recognize including the random obscure references.

**Author's Note:** Yay! Another chapter, almost to the hal fway mark!

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In The Days Before The End

Chapter Eight - My Day Out

_August 2010 was a horrible month. Battles broke out all over the US and it didn't rain for six months. There was an energy crisis as we ran out of fossil fuels to power the country. Weapon's manufacturing slowed and air and water pollution skyrocketed. The government tried to calm civilians and both the rebels and those on the side of the Plur threw their best scientists into finding alternative energy solutions._

_For the US government, who had surrendered to the Plur a year before, it was one of the last tries to keep America from falling apart, but for us it was to fuel a war that we had to fight alone._

_Windmills and dams were built and portable solar panels were placed everywhere. What little oil and gasoline was left was saved for emergencies only. JD was there through it all. Ordering work to be done, and keeping up morale. _

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_John Michael Dorian is a hero and though I will never admit I owe him my life one hundred times over. _

_In the first week of that devastating month I was shot in the thigh during the firefight just outside Kennewick, Washington. I was tired, hadn't slept in forty eight hours and passed out almost as soon as the pain registered. _

_According to a nurse, who's nametag read Mercedes, in the hospital I woke up in, our "fearless leader" had pulled me out from where I fell, dug out the bullet and dropped me off at the nearest hospital with orders that I stay off the front lines for at least a month. I would live but my leg was septic and I would be off it for at least two weeks._

_JD came back two days later just in time to catch me trying to sneak away. He smiled, asked me how I was doing and pushed me back into my room. I was too high on painkillers to object and didn't notice that he had locked me in from the outside until they took me off the drugs the next day. Needless to say combined with the pain in my leg and getting locked in a hospital room, my anger was bordering on rage._

_He saved me from my own stupidity and before I knew it I was following him into war without question._

– From the Journal of Dr. Percival Cox, August 19, 2018

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"Dude I am so tired, I might just collapse right here." Turk groaned from the driver's seat.

"Please don't." I had the sudden urge to make sure my seatbelt was on. "Are you sure that you don't want me to drive?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. How are you not tired? We just finished the night shift and I didn't see you sleep at all!"

I looked at him pointedly. "Practice." It was true I was very used to getting little to no sleep.

"Oh, right." Turk looked extremely uncomfortable and the flash of hurt I felt surprised me. He didn't trust me. It was a punch in the gut, I was so used to having him always trust me.

"Are you sure?" I asked again.

"Fine, you can drive. I'm going to take a nap!" Turk snapped and pulled the car to the shoulder of the road.

We switched seats and he buckled his seatbelt, lay back the seat as far as it would go, and promptly fell asleep.

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I parked on the road across the street from the woman's house and shook Turk awake. "Come on, we're here."

He sat up and looked around blearily before glaring at me. I ignored him and tucked a gun in the waistband of my pants at the small my back. I shouldn't need it but I felt better with it there.

"So Turk I'm going to tell her that we are private investigators looking into people disappearing. I need you to pose as my partner. You don't have to do anything but stand there. You're a terrible liar so I'll do the talking."

Turk rolled his eyes. "Gee thanks."

I smile. "Come on, let's go."

I rang the doorbell and a small dog barked repeatedly from inside the house. The middle aged woman who opened the door looked tired; she had bags under her eyes and bruises along her jaw line.

"Hello Ms. Evans, I'm Michael Dawson and this is my associate Christopher Tittle," Turk snorted from behind me, "we are private investigators looking into the disappearance of some residents in this neighborhood. Would you mind if we asked you some questions?" I put on my best smile and try to be non-threatening.

The woman, Clara, looks surprised. "Oh, of course, come in."

I've bit back a sigh of relief. If she had refused there would have been nothing we could do but leave. I was suddenly glad she hadn't asked for an ID from either of us.

She opened the door wider and ushered us in. Clara motioned at a table for us to sit. "Would you like tea or coffee?" Turk opened his mouth to speak but I cut him off.

"No thank you, we won't be here long." We took our seats as she sat across from us.

"So your husband disappeared about a month ago?" I cut right to the chase.

"Yes, and then Robert came back, but he is totally different." She looked at the floor.

"How is he different?" I asked gently and when she looked up her eyes were brimming with tears.

"He is like a totally different person. He's rough and mean; yesterday he even forgot the dogs name. He loves Adam like a child!" She put her head in her hands.

The bruises on her neck, he was abusing her. I clenched my fists. Sadly there was nothing I could do about it. Turk shifted as he came to the same conclusion.

"Is there anything else?" Turk spoke up and I blinked in surprise.

Clara put her hands back in her lap. "He forgets things, details like where things are kept. Can you help him?"

"We will do everything we can." I stood and motioned for Turk to do the same. If we had been wiped the best thing to do would be kill him. "Thank you for speaking to us Ms. Evans." Turk nodded and Clara rose to show us to the door.

"Why did we leave? That was so quick we barely got any information!" Exclaimed Turk as the door closed behind us.

"We were being observed. There was a bug under the table and a camera in the wall clock. We had to get out."

Turk looked surprised. "They were watching us?"

"At least someone was." I confirmed stopping suddenly as I heard a clatter in the alley about ten feet to my left. I held a hand out for Turk to wait as I walked forward to investigate. Maybe it wasn't anything but it was definitely worth checking out. Turk ignored my silent command and followed.

The kick came out of nowhere as soon as I entered the shadows. I dodged just a little too late and instead of landing on my face, it hit my shoulder. I stumbled before regaining my balance and whipping around. As I drew my gun I dodged the punch and grabbed the arm aimed at my head. I deflected it and pushed my attacker against the building to my right. Elbow under his chin.

I recognized Clara Evans's husband, flipped off the safety and place the gun to the middle of his forehead.

"I'm sorry." The shot rang loud in my ears as I pulled the trigger and stepped back, turning towards Turk.

I could see the look on Turk's face as I loaded the gun and the man slumped to the ground. He looked me and took a step back, eyes wide. I had told him what the future was like but I don't think that he truly understood until the man fell to the pavement with the sickening thud. He hadn't really registered that people were actually dying, that I had killed people and that _he_ had killed people. This was the first time he'd ever been faced by this kind of violence.

Turk was scared of me, I felt like I should say something but couldn't find the right words. "Come on Turk, we should leave, the police will be here soon." I was suddenly glad that I had worn gloves when I loaded the gun, there would be no fingerprints to link this back to me. The bullet would either, that was why I had bought my supplies from Stevenson. "You didn't touch anything did you?" Turk looked at me confused. "Fingerprints." I clarified.

"Oh, no I didn't." I turned to leave, hearing him follow behind, hoped that he finally understood that this was war, and tried to ignore the aching in my chest.

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**Authors Note:** Next chapter will be at the hospital, mostly filler. A couple reviewers have mentioned that they'd like to see more of JD's interaction with the hospital staff and his friends so that will definitely happen next chapter. I might've possibly said that that would be in this chapter but I was like, I'm already at ten pages, screw this my hand hurts...

I know that none of you probably noticed but Kennewick Washington with a woman named Mercedes was in a nod to a book series that I like and "fearless leader" was a reference to a TV show. If you can guess the references you can name a blank because I'm out of names. TV show is really popular so if nobody guesses it I'll be really surprised, the book series is not very well-known so I won't be surprised if nobody guesses it.

I also made a slight reference to a TV show called Orphan Black but that was just in JD's fake last name… I'm sorry, I was in a strange mood when writing this…


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